http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/vietnam/ en-us Thu, 9 Oct 2008 02:02:22 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2101013/posts Since the McCain campaign has resurfaced the matter of Barack Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers--the former terrorist now Chicago education professor---there are some matters I am curious about. I say this as one who has explained time and again in print and on television Ayers, by the time Obama met him in the 1990s, was a respected academic who was welcome into Chicago's civic life. On Monday, Obama chief strategist David Axelrod said Obama was not aware of Ayers' terrorist background when he attended a political coffee at Ayers Hyde Park home at the beginning of his state senate race... Chicago Sun Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2101013/posts#comment Thu, 9 Oct 2008 02:02:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2098009/posts To say goodbye, 41 years too late Vietnam War officer, missing since 1967, comes home to rest Sunday, October 5, 2008 3:39 AM By Holly Zachariah THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH WEST LIBERTY, Ohio -- He called her Tootsie. Pat Zook doesn't know exactly why. She thinks maybe it was because her husband always liked that old Al Jolson song: Yesterday I heard a lover sigh, Goodbye, oh me, oh my. Toot, toot, Tootsie, goodbye. Oh, no, Tootsie, don't cry. She last touched his face -- those bedroom eyes, the full and pouty lips, that Elvis Presley hair -- as he left... The Columbus Dispatch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2098009/posts#comment Sun, 5 Oct 2008 16:12:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2097150/posts THE remains of Australia's last missing soldier from the Vietnam War will be repatriated next week. Private David Fisher, of the Special Air Service Regiment, fell from a rope as he was being evacuated from Vietnam by helicopter in September 1969. His remains were found in the Cam My district in August this year. ..... Pte Fisher was the last of the missing army personnel to be found in Vietnam following the recovery of the remains of three others last year. There are still two members of the air force - Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert Carver... Herald Sun http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2097150/posts#comment Sat, 4 Oct 2008 02:16:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2095381/posts More than 38 years after being recommended for a Bronze Star, a Texas man has received the medal for helping avert a Viet Cong attack in South Vietnam. Jim Greenwalt of Rockwall, Texas, a former U.S. Army sergeant, helped to prevent a surprise attack by Viet Cong, the Dallas Morning News reported Wednesday."I fired at muzzle flashes, sounds, any movement," Greenwalt said, recalling the violence that repelled a Viet Cong attack.Greenwalt's bravery on Jan. 30, 1970, was remembered at a ceremony at Fort Hood, in central Texas, after a paperwork snafu delayed the honor.The U.S. Army has awarded more than... UPI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2095381/posts#comment Thu, 2 Oct 2008 00:46:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2088082/posts Goon squads went into action last night in Hanoi. About a hundred thugs raided the prayer vigil held by Thai Ha faithful under the indifferent eye of some 500 police agents—they destroyed a chapel, sullied a statue of Our Lady with motor oil and proffered threats against the people who were praying.The same thing had happened at night on Friday when another bunch of thugs attacked the faithful, ransacked St Gerard chapel and an outdoor altar, destroying statues and images despite a police presence. Catholic Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2088082/posts#comment Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:55:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2087980/posts In what is believed to be the biggest public protest since 1954, over 10,000 people have gathered in Hanoi to protest the demolition by the Vietnamese government... Viet Catholic News Agency http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2087980/posts#comment Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:47:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2087793/posts HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Communist authorities in Hanoi have threatened to take legal action against the city's archbishop unless he immediately disbands illegal prayer vigils to demand the return of former church lands, state media reported Monday. The government campaign against Archbishop Ngo Quang Kiet escalated over the weekend, with state television calling into question his patriotism in an apparent attempt to turn public opinion against him. State-controlled newspapers on Monday quoted a letter to Kiet from Hanoi Mayor Nguyen The Thao, accusing the cleric of instigating unrest. "Stop your illegal acts immediately or you will be dealt with according... AP via SFGate http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2087793/posts#comment Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:22:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2085542/posts Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James E. Cartwright, U.S. Marine Corps, will host the Pentagon ceremony for National POW/MIA Recognition Day at the River Entrance Parade Field on Friday, Sept. 19, 2008, at 11 a.m. EDT. Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Congressman Ike Skelton will be the guest speaker. Observances of National POW/MIA Recognition Day are held across the country on military installations, ships at sea, state capitols, schools and veterans' facilities. This observance is one of six days throughout the year that Congress has mandated the... DOD http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2085542/posts#comment Fri, 19 Sep 2008 02:21:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086088/posts ARLINGTON, VA -- Today, U.S. Senator John McCain issued the following statement on National POW/MIA Recognition Day: "Today, we mark National POW/MIA Recognition Day, and I salute my comrades who served their country in unusual circumstances, and remember those who never returned. "During my time in Hanoi, I was witness to a thousand acts of kindness, courage, and love by some of the finest Americans I've ever had the privilege to know. They, like thousands of others before and since, served our nation proudly and with honor. They would all agree, though, that the real heroes are those who never... johnmccain http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086088/posts#comment Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:15:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2083887/posts For over a generation, the Democratic Party’s left wing has been determined to lose America’s wars.Party of Defeat: How Democrats and Radicals Undermined America’s War on Terror Before and After 9-11, by David Horowitz and Ben Johnson (Spence, 224 pp., $22.95) From the days of ancient Athens, the citizens of democracies have been querulous warriors. Key democratic institutions such as free speech and citizen control of the military ensure that ordinary people take an active interest in the progress of war, freely (and often loudly) offering criticism and demanding results. Such criticism typically expressed impatience with military and political leaders... City Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2083887/posts#comment Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:45:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2082568/posts Yesterday's Wall Street Journal carried a page-one story by Yaroslav Trofimov reporting the unlikeliest endorsement of this campaign season: [T]he jailers who once tortured Sen. McCain are lining up to offer effusive -- if somewhat embarrassing -- endorsements for his presidential candidacy."If I had a vote in the U.S., I would choose McCain," beams retired Col. Tran Trong Duyet, the [Hanoi Hilton prison] camp's former commander. "I want him in the White House."Col. Duyet's sentiment is not an eccentricity: This unlikely sentiment is widely shared in this fast-growing country of 85 million. "The majority of the people in Vietnam know... Power Line Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2082568/posts#comment Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:38:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2082557/posts John McCain has won an unusual endorsement for his presidential campaign - from the man who was his jailer in wartime Vietnam. John McCain was shot down and badly wounded while bombing a Hanoi power station on his 23rd mission over North Vietnam in 1967. He was a prisoner for over five years. Because Mr McCain's father was commander of all American forces in the Pacific theatre, the Vietnamese called him "the prince". Tran Trong Duyet, the commandant of Hao Lo prison in Hanoi from 1968-73, recalls Mr McCain "as a typical child of a traditional military family. He was... Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2082557/posts#comment Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:45:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2081551/posts FIGHTING BACK AT THE OUTRAGEOUS ATTACK ON A WAR HERO dfu youtube presentation http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2081551/posts#comment Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:35:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2080083/posts New Film released By the Swedes Showing McCain’s release in 1973 to the US Military in Hanoi. (Video Included in post) Stuck On Stupid http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2080083/posts#comment Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:29:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2079935/posts This iconic image is from the Battle of Ia Drang. The grimy, unshaven, soldier, bayonet fixed, jaw set in fierce determination, is Lt. Richard Rescorla, a platoon leader with Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Air Cav Division. It was taken on the morning of November 16th, 1965, the third day of the battle as he leads a bayonet charge forward. Although most of the soldiers under his command were new to war, he was not. And this would not be the last time he would bravely lead others in a crisis. Cyril Richard Rescorla was born in... The Anti-Idotarian Rottweiler http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2079935/posts#comment Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:22:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2078188/posts Democratic VP nominee, Senator Joe Biden (Del) touted his past experience as a key plus in preparing him for the job of keeping this country out of war during an Obama/Biden Administration. “I never fired a shot in anger and what I have been able to accomplish on this personal level has given me the insight that will help me keep America at peace when I’m vice-president,” Biden boasted. “Compare this to the experiences of our opponents. Not only did Senator McCain go to war, he was amazingly unsuccessful at it. He lost his plane and got captured by the... AZCONSERVATIVE http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2078188/posts#comment Tue, 9 Sep 2008 16:35:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2077414/posts Maybe having been a POW does qualify you to be president. At least if you emerge from the experience in the way it appears John McCain did. McCain’s acceptance speech on Thursday may not been oratory for the ages – although it wasn’t bad and it had its stirring moments to be sure – but to listen to it, you got the impression that so much of what McCain has done in his political career suddenly made sense. And you got the sense that for all the people we’ve sent to Washington hoping they would really change the place, this... North Star Writers Group http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2077414/posts#comment Mon, 8 Sep 2008 16:27:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2077413/posts Maybe having been a POW does qualify you to be president. At least if you emerge from the experience in the way it appears John McCain did. McCain’s acceptance speech on Thursday may not been oratory for the ages – although it wasn’t bad and it had its stirring moments to be sure – but to listen to it, you got the impression that so much of what McCain has done in his political career suddenly made sense. And you got the sense that for all the people we’ve sent to Washington hoping they would really change the place, this... North Star Writers Group http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2077413/posts#comment Mon, 8 Sep 2008 16:27:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2076953/posts From ABC's This Week today. GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: One of our viewers wrote in—you talk about service—and asked, Brenda Godfrey Bryan, Marietta, Georgia: did you ever consider joining the armed services to protect and serve our country? If not, why? BARACK OBAMA: You know, I actually did. STEPHANOPOULOS: When? BARACK OBAMA: You know, I had to sign up for Selective Service when I graduated from high school. And I was growing up in Hawaii, and I had friend whose parents were in the military, there were a lot of Army, military bases there. And I always actually thought of the military... NewsBusters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2076953/posts#comment Mon, 8 Sep 2008 00:05:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2076750/posts During a nationally televised news program today, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Barack Obama disclosed he once considered serving in the military. This is a very transparent move to bolster his national security credentials and occurred the day after a release of a Greenberg-Quinlan-Rosner poll that showed a widening credibility gap that the Democratic Party has with the voters over national security issues. Obama is also running against John McCain, whose compelling personal story derives, in part, from being an heir to a long line of sailors who defended America, and from his own military service during the Vietnam War.... The American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2076750/posts#comment Sun, 7 Sep 2008 17:26:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2075430/posts In response to my wondering if VP nominee Joseph Biden dodged the military draft after Vietnam's bloody Tet offensive, in part a reader wrote: May Have”, “What if” -- [t]his article is presuming much. ... It is a bit refreshing though to see the same B.S. tactics employed against Biden as were/are against Sara Palin, who does have Foreign Policy experience, for no other reason than her State shares borders with two Sovereign Nations. Maybe B.S. is a bit strong -- yet it appears to be over reaching at the moment. I honestly can’t say I got my draft board... 911FamiliesForAmerica.org http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2075430/posts#comment Fri, 5 Sep 2008 17:33:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2075192/posts Having fun at Vietnam's expense Posted by Tim Johnson Fri Sep 5, 2:34 AM ET Some curious things get by the internet censors in China, and sometimes that raises a lot of questions. ADVERTISEMENT Take for example the curious situation of internet users who are openly discussing China???s supposed plans to ???occupy??? Vietnam. This has rattled Hanoi. According to an article today in the South China Morning Post, an English-language daily in Hong Kong, Hanoi has summoned Chinese diplomats twice in the past month to seek explanations. China, after all, is said to employ 35,000 people to sanitize internet content,... McClatchy Newspapers http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2075192/posts#comment Fri, 5 Sep 2008 11:21:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2073398/posts Former president Jimmy Carter said Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s prisoner-of-war experience in Vietnam gives him an unfair advantage over his rival, Senator Obama. “Senator McCain had the good fortune of being called to fight for his country,” Carter complained. “Getting captured and tortured by the Communists was an opportunity denied to Senator Obama. He was only six years old, living in Indonesia at the time. By the time Barack would’ve been old enough, there were no similar opportunities for him.” Carter rued the fact that voters weren’t apt to appreciate the hardships Obama had to endure when he was... AZCONSERVATIVE http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2073398/posts#comment Wed, 3 Sep 2008 00:58:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2073037/posts Hanoi, Sep. 1, 2008 (CWNews.com) - At least 20 Vietnamese Catholics were hospitalized on August 31 after police in Hanoi disrupted a religious procession at an embattled Redemptorist monastery, spraying a priest, altar boys, and lay people with tear gas at close range. The Sunday-night police raid was the latest in a series of confrontations at the site of the Redemptorist monastery, where Catholic activists have been protesting the government's seizure of Church-owned property. In Catholic churches around Hanoi, priests had read a statement at every Sunday Mass, asking the government "not to use any sort of violence against the... Catholic World News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2073037/posts#comment Tue, 2 Sep 2008 16:05:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2070964/posts <p>A SEARCH team believes it has found the grave of the last remaining Australian digger unaccounted for after the Vietnam War.</p> <p>Special Air Services Regiment (SASR) soldier Private David Fisher fell from a rope suspended by a helicopter over thick jungle in southern Vietnam in 1969.</p> The Australian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2070964/posts#comment Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:31:20 GMT